Posts Tagged ‘tax breaks’

I have seen or heard the following several times over the last couple of years. This is the first time I have seen it attributed .

Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all ten comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this…

The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing

The fifth would pay $1

The sixth would pay $3

The seventh would pay $7

The eighth would pay $12

The ninth would pay $18

The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59

So, that’s what they decided to do.

The ten men drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve ball. “Since you are all such good customers,” he said, “I’m going to reduce the cost of your daily beer by $20″. Drinks for the ten men would now cost just $80.

The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes. So the first four men were unaffected. They would still drink for free. But what about the other six men? How could they divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his fair share?

They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody’s share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up being paid to drink his beer.

So, the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man’s bill by a higher percentage the poorer he was, to follow the principle of the tax system they had been using, and he proceeded to work out the amounts he suggested that each should now pay.

And so the fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% saving).

The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33% saving).

The seventh now paid $5 instead of $7 (28% saving).

The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% saving).

The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% saving).

The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% saving).

Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to drink for free. But, once outside the bar, the men began to compare their savings.

“I only got a dollar out of the $20 saving,” declared the sixth man. He pointed to the tenth man, ”but he got $10!”

“Yeah, that’s right,” exclaimed the fifth man. “I only saved a dollar too. It’s unfair that he got ten times more benefit than me!”

“That’s true!” shouted the seventh man. “Why should he get $10 back, when I got only $2? The wealthy get all the breaks!”

“Wait a minute,” yelled the first four men in unison, “we didn’t get anything at all. This new tax system exploits the poor!”

The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.

The next night the tenth man didn’t show up for drinks so the nine sat down and had their beers without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important. They didn’t have enough money between all of them for even half of the bill!

And that, boys and girls, journalists and government ministers, is how our tax system works. The people who already pay the highest taxes will naturally get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up anymore. In fact, they might start drinking overseas, where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.

David R. Kamerschen, Ph.D. – Professor of Economics.

If you look at those numbers, you will see that of the 10 men, in round numbers, 40% of them pay nothing for their beer. 10 % pay only 1% of the tab, in this case a dollar. 10% pays about 3%, 10% pays 7%, 10% pays 12% of the total. If you’re keeping track, we now have 4 men or 40% of the people paying approximately 23% of the bill. When you add the ninth man into the mix, you have a breakdown like this. 40% are getting “free” (at least for them) beer, 50% are footing 41% of the total bill. Do the math and see for yourself. The tenth man, representing 10% of the beer drinkers in this little club, who has done well for himself, is footing 59% of the bill for the 10 men.

Now, take a look at the “tax” break they receive when the owner of this fine establishment decides to give them a discount and see that the guy who gets the biggest “break” is drinker 5. He now pays nothing. A 100% discount on his portion of the tab, he drinks for “free.” You will notice that the discount goes down greatly from there. Drinker 10 only gets a 16% discount on his portion, though it does garner him the biggest in real dollars. However, if you work the percentage of the tab, he is now paying a touch more than 61%. He is actually paying MORE as a portion of the tab, not less.

I hear people talking about making the “rich” pay their “fair share” when it comes to taxes. Take a look at the percentages above and do some of the math yourself and see who is actually paying the bills and who is just along for the “free beer”

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I am originally from St. Louis, MO and a 1984 Graduate of Ritenour High School. After attending the University of Missouri, St. Louis for a semester, I decided that school wasn’t for me, so I enlisted in the Air Force. After 20 years in Air Force Blue, and various duty locations, I, along with my family, decided that is was time to hang up my uniform and move along to the next phase of my life. Along the way, I managed to earn an AAS and a BS. I am highly opinionated and will tell you what I think. I believe that PC stands for Personal Computer and I know that Political Correctness is a load of BS. I call a horse a horse and bull, bull.

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Sarge:
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